Eaton and Associates Holiday Party
by AnnLiberty
Summary: One-shot holiday companion piece that goes with my longer story Eaton and Associates - modern-day Fourtris Tobias owns a law firm, which he established with his inheritance from his mother's parents. Tris showed up at E&A looking for a job. The rest of their story is in Eaton and Associates. This takes place six years later, at a company holiday party.


**This is a one-shot holiday companion piece that goes with my longer story ****_Eaton and Associates_****. It is modern-day Fourtris. Tobias owns a law firm, Eaton and Associates, which he established with his inheritance from his mother's parents. Tris showed up at E&A looking for a job. The rest of their story is in ****_Eaton and Associates_****, and this takes place six years later.**

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Tris Eaton stands at the podium and looks out on the hotel ballroom before her. The company's holiday event is being held in the smaller ballroom, unlike the annual gala that she and her husband hold for their charitable organization, the Evelyn Foundation. As her gaze sweeps across the room, she sees many familiar faces. Zeke Pedrad, her husband's law partner, is there with his wife Shauna. The Pedrad's twins, Emily and Evan, are at home with Zeke's mom, Hana, for the night. Zeke's brother, Tris' childhood friend Uriah, is there too, with his wife of nearly a year, Marlene. Uriah has been working for the firm for a few months now, and still claims that it's his dream come true. Tris' best friend, Christina sits with her fiance, Will, who is the head of the company's paralegals. The six of them are at the head table, front and center in the ballroom. Two empty chairs at their table belong to Tris and her husband Tobias, who is standing to her left on the small stage.

"Good evening everyone," Tris greets the seventy or so people assembled in the festively decorated room. "If you are wondering why your boss' secretary is addressing the company, then welcome to your first ever Eaton and Associates Christmas party!"

The crowd laughs. Everyone in the company knows that Tobias Eaton, head lawyer of the Eaton and Associates firm, is married to his long-time secretary.

"My name is Tris Eaton. On my first day at E&A, Tobias handed me the keys to his law office and never looked back."

Again, those who have been around for a while laugh.

"Okay, so there's more to that story," Tris says with a giggle. "I walked into Tobias' old office one day to drop off my resume and found a very handsome and very overwhelmed young lawyer running around like a chicken with his head cut off. Zeke was on his honeymoon with Shauna," Zeke interrupts to cat call himself, making Tris roll her eyes. "Will was out, and there was no secretary, which is why I was there with my resume. Tobias was due in court, and the temp hadn't showed up. I offered to fill in, and the rest is history."

Long-time friends and coworkers laugh again. "Well, it is," Tris insists. "It's a history that includes gang violence, car explosions, kidnapping, several trials, and a love story, but I won't bore you with those mundane details."

The crowd roars with laughter, and Tris promises to tell the whole story later.

"Anyway," she continues. "Tobias and I were married five and a half years ago. Along with our friends and an ever-growing crew of hard-working professionals, we have nurtured Eaton and Associates into Chicago's largest family law firm. We've added branches in several suburbs to make it easy for people to get top-quality legal services without having to go downtown, and we moved from our little rented office suite to five floors of the Eaton building."

Tris pauses for the audience to applaud, and thinks about the Eaton building. It had once been part of Marcus' real estate empire. When he died, Tobias had wanted to sell it off like he did the rest of Marcus' estate. He had no positive associations with his abusive father, his father's business, or any of his possessions. Tobias' answer to Marcus' death was to sell off everything and invest it into their foundation, which provides resources for people like Tobias and his mother, who had been Marcus' victims until Evelyn killed herself to escape and Tobias outgrew his father and learned to fight back.

Tris and their therapist, Johanna Reyes, had agreed with Tobias' plans - to a point. They loved that he didn't want to keep Marcus' money and spend his life feeling guilty about it. They loved that he wanted to put the estate into protecting and defending other abuse victims. But they both felt that Tobias' callous 'slash and burn' mentality was hiding deep anger and hurt. Johanna encouraged him to come up with a more hands-on project and sell off the rest. Tris came up with the idea for the Eaton Building renovation.

The Eaton Building is a twenty-story office building that was built in the 1930s by Tobias' great-grandfather. It had originally housed his real estate development firm, then became a rental property when Tobias' grandfather moved the business to a more fashionable location in the 1970s. Marcus had allowed the property to fall into disrepair during his time running the family business, and it was over half empty and falling apart when Tobias inherited it.

With Tris' encouragement, Tobias hired an architect to re-imagine the art deco office building. They hired a contractor to restore the structure and update it for the twenty-first century. The ground level contains two retail spaces that face the main thoroughfare. Both have high ceilings, generous storage space, and ample windows. Once updated, they were quickly snatched up by an art gallery and a flower and gift shop. On the back half of the building, away from the main road, the ground level is an office space, which Tobias leases rent-free to Law Advocacy Resources, his favorite non-profit. There LAR handles walk-in traffic - abuse victims in need of legal help and the resources to escape their situations.

The ground level has such high ceilings that there is no second floor to the building, an oddity that Tris and Tobias learned was related to the first owner's desire to have the "tallest" building in the area. Another building of the same height had claimed to be nineteen stories tall, so the first Eaton claimed that his was twenty. Subsequently, the first floor above the lobby and ground-floor retail area is called the third floor, and it houses the private offices of LAR.

The fourth floor became the offices of the Evelyn Foundation, which had grown dramatically after the infusion of capital from Marcus' estate, and now needs an entire floor of office space to accommodate the staff.

Several floors above that are rented to various businesses. Tobias is particular about who he rents space to. He has a few prosperous renters, but he is cautious about who he takes in because of the fact that they would coexist in the building with legal and charitable organizations helping abuse victims. He also established a program for new startups and small businesses to rent high-end office space in his attractive and well-situated building for rock-bottom prices and with very generous lease terms. He wanted the space to give these small businesses the best chance possible to grow.

The fourteenth and fifteenth floors are rented to Johanna Reyes for her therapy practice. She was the first person to offer to move her business to his building, and he loves having her practice there because they are good tenants, but more importantly because they also work with abuse victims.

Floors sixteen through twenty hold the ever-expanding staff of the Eaton and Associates law firm. They hadn't filled five floors at first - not even close. Tobias had the top floor prepared first, with offices for himself and Zeke, and Tris set up as their receptionist and executive secretary. He also had several conference rooms put on that floor, a kitchenette, and some smaller offices.

When they grew a bit more, Tobias had the nineteenth floor renovated and included a new receptionist, her lobby, and offices for a number of paralegals, including Will, who was promoted to head the paralegal team.

One of the top floor conference rooms became a law library when the eighteenth floor was finished. Reception was moved down there, along with conference rooms, client meeting rooms, and offices for their new business manager, human resources manager, and marketing manager.

Every year Eaton and Associates grows, and every year they finish another floor of the building. The top floor is being renovated again to make room for a third partner and a third secretary. The seventeenth floor is being prepared to move reception again and put in more offices for more lawyers. Reception on eighteen will be shrunk when seventeen is ready, and that space will become another conference room and desks for the paralegals' secretaries.

Tris and Tobias know that it will only be a matter of a few years before they finish and fill the sixteenth floor as well. That's why Tobias decided to open branch offices in two Chicago suburbs. The Eaton building will soon be at capacity, and he wants to continue to grow his team and their reach. Providing quality family law services at fair prices and with a compassionate heart is what Eaton and Associates is all about, and the acquisition and renovation of the Eaton Building had made that possible on a whole new level.

All of these things flash through Tris' mind in an instant, and she returns to her prepared speech.

"I have been behind the desk outside Tobias' office for six years now," she continues. "I have watched my husband, his partner, and our employees work tirelessly for families. We have prepared wills, handled estates, helped people care for aging parents, prepared prenuptial agreements, divorces, and adoptions. The business of Chicago's families has crossed our desks, and we have given them our best. I am proud of the work we have done and I have enjoyed the people that I have worked alongside."

Tris' hands shake as she pulls a folded piece of paper from behind her notes. "As Tobias' wife, this firm will always be a part of my life, but as of the first of the year, it will no longer be part of my career."

Several gasps come from the assembled crowd, and Tobias places a warm hand on his wife's back. He knew this would be difficult for her. She has been deeply invested in his law firm practically since the day they met. He has no doubt that Tris' hard work, especially in the early days of E&A, is the reason they survived and became a success. But Tris' art career has been taking more and more of her time, and the two of them agreed that it was time for her to focus on that instead of trying to juggle a full-time job at the law firm, her art career, and their charitable work.

Tris turns to Tobias with a shaky smile. "Here is my official letter of resignation," she says, making the crowd laugh half-heartedly.

She takes a step away from the microphone and hands Tobias the piece of paper. "There's also some information in there for you," she says quietly in his ear. "It seems you're getting a promotion."

Tobias gives his wife a look of confusion, then opens the folded paper to look at it. Suddenly his head snaps up and he looks Tris in the eye. "Really?" he asks.

Tris can only nod. The paper she handed Tobias wasn't a letter of resignation, it was a printout of a report she received from her doctor. Among the medical jargon is a sentence that Tris had highlighted. "Pregnancy test: positive" it reads.

"Really?" Tobias asks again. They had talked about starting a family soon, but Tris had only been off her birth control for a short time. Tobias hadn't dared to believe that it could happen so quickly.

"Yes," Tris replies.

Tobias throws his arms around his wife. "I'm going to be a dad!" he shouts to the crowd, raising the paper in his hand as he crushes his blushing wife to his chest.

The crowd erupts in cheers and wild applause. Tobias kisses Tris while Zeke and Uriah rush the stage. Tris is beet red and can't stop laughing as Zeke and Uriah hug their surrogate brother and sister-in-law while jumping up and down.

After a few minutes of chaos, Tobias steps up to the microphone, and the Pedrad brothers stand on either side of Tris with their arms around her shoulders.

"I had a speech prepared," Tobias says with a laugh. "But it's only going to seem boring after all this. This firm was my dream. I wanted to help families. Along the way, I found a family of my own. Thank you all for being part of the E&A family. Thank you for your friendship, your time, and your hard work. We are growing and successful because of you. Thank you so much, and may you and your families have a very merry Christmas and a wonderful new year!"

"Cheers!" Will called out, holding up his champagne flute. Around the room people followed suit, raising their glasses in toast to their boss and the new adventure that he and Tris were about to begin.

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**The End**  
**Merry Christmas!**


End file.
